Editing Spear (section)

====Classical antiquity====
=====Ancient Greeks=====
[[File:Warrior spear CdM Paris DeRidder299.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Athenian warrior wielding a spear in battle]]
The spear is the main weapon of the warriors of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''. The use of both a single thrusting spear and two throwing spears are mentioned. It has been suggested that two styles of combat are being described; an early style, with thrusting spears, dating to the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenaean]] period in which the Iliad is set, and, anachronistically, a later style, with throwing spears, from Homer's own [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] period.<ref>{{cite book |title=From Mycenae to Homer |last=Webster|first=T.B.L. |year=1977 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |isbn=978-0-416-70570-6 |pages=166–8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJgOAAAAQAAJ&q=spear%20homer&pg=PA168 |access-date=15 Feb 2010}}</ref>

In the 7th century BC, the Greeks evolved a new close-order infantry formation, the [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Wars of the Ancient Greeks |last=Hanson |first=Victor Davis |author-link= Victor Davis Hanson|year= 1999|publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-0-304-35982-0 |chapter= Chapter 2 : The Rise of the City State and the Invention of Western Warfare|pages=42–83}}</ref> The key to this formation was the [[hoplite]], who was equipped with a large, circular, bronze-faced shield ([[aspis]]) and a {{convert|7|–|9|ft|cm|abbr=on|order=flip|sigfig=2}} spear with an iron head and bronze butt-spike ([[Dory (spear)|doru]]).<ref>Hanson (1999), p. 59</ref> The hoplite phalanx dominated warfare among the Greek City States from the 7th into the 4th century BC.

The 4th century saw major changes. One was the greater use of [[peltast]]s, light infantry armed with spear and javelins.<ref>Hanson (1999), pp.147–8</ref> The other was the development of the [[sarissa]], a two-handed pike {{convert|18|ft|cm|abbr=on|order=flip|sigfig=2}} in length, by the [[Macedon]]ians under [[Phillip of Macedon]] and [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>Hanson (1999), pp149-150</ref> The pike phalanx, supported by peltasts and cavalry, became the dominant mode of warfare among the Greeks from the late 4th century onward<ref>Hunt, Peter. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Volume 1, Greece, The Hellenistic World and the Rise of Rome. Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 108</ref> until Greek military systems were supplanted by the Roman legions.

=====Ancient Romans=====
[[File:Roman soldier 175 aC in northern province.jpg|thumb|upright|Re-enactor outfitted as a Late Roman legionary carrying a ''[[pilum]]'']]
In the [[Gaius Marius|pre-Marian]] Roman armies, the first two lines of battle, the ''[[hastati]]'' and ''[[principes]]'', often fought with a sword called a ''[[gladius]]'' and ''[[pilum|pila]]'', heavy javelins that were specifically designed to be thrown at an enemy to pierce and foul a target's shield. Originally the ''[[principes]]'' were armed with a short spear called a ''[[Hasta (spear)|hasta]]'', but these gradually fell out of use, eventually being replaced by the gladius. The third line, the ''[[triarii]]'', continued to use the ''hasta''.

From the late 2nd century BC, all [[legionary|legionaries]] were equipped with the ''pilum''. The ''pilum'' continued to be the standard legionary spear until the end of the 2nd century AD. ''[[Auxilia]]'', however, were equipped with a simple hasta and, perhaps, javelins or darts. During the 3rd century AD, although the ''pilum'' continued to be used, legionaries usually were equipped with other forms of throwing and thrusting spear, similar to ''auxilia'' of the previous century. By the 4th century, the ''pilum'' had effectively disappeared from common use.<ref>{{cite book |title=Roman Military Equipment |last=Bishop |first=M.C. |author2=Coulston, J.C.  |year=1989 |publisher=Shire Publications |location=Princes Risborough |isbn= 978-0-7478-0005-7}}</ref>

In the late period of the Roman Empire, the spear became more often used because of its anti-cavalry capacities as the barbarian invasions were often conducted by people with a developed culture of cavalry in warfare.